010 The frankly alluring proposition of ‘wrong’ fashion

Notes from Esther Perel and Miranda July, fashion’s erotic side and my double denim moment - not unrelated!

Gucci autumn/winter ‘96 - the tuxedo. (I wrote about it here and here - I love velvet!)

Helmut Newton once described Hermès as the most expensive and luxurious sex shop in the world. All those riding crops! All that sensorial leather! 

Fashion has always entangled with the erotic - the endless naked dressing we’ve seen in recent seasons is, really, hardly anything to do with it. Or maybe it is - as in most things, different strokes for different folks and all. It’s always been there though - before Vivienne Westwood’s Sex boutique in the ‘70s and Tom Ford’s autumn/winter ‘96 collection for Gucci with that red velvet tuxedo (made iconic by Gwyneth Paltrow, high priestess of women’s sexuality!). a collection that Tim Blanks described as lighting “the fuse of the sex bomb.”

But there was something interesting about this idea in the collections this season. Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times said sex was back on the table in her review of Balenciaga (all that lingerie - actually bodysuits - and trailing ribbons), Victoria Beckham (new erogenous zones - fashion loves finding those!) and Hermès where creative director Nadège Vanhee spoke of being inspired by an ‘assertive sensuality’ with her filmy sheer silk trousers and skirts and lush leather.

‘Lingerie’ at Balenciaga, Image credit: courtesy of Balenciaga

It wasn’t just the suggestion of sensuality - even naughtiness - in the air that made all of this interesting though. It was a thought, from many designers this season, that things ought to be messy. Break the rules. Wear things you wouldn’t normally. Be daring! This you could see at Balenciaga - where Demna outright said he wanted to mess things up, saying backstage.

 “I think the fashion world is trying to be so perfect and polished, and impeccable in everything… But that’s not how fashion is for me. Fashion needs to get messed up. It needs to get fucked up… It needs to not be based on fear.”

You could see this at Louis Vuitton too with the mash-up of softness and structure, past and future, and Miu Miu of course, where Mrs Prada always explores women’s dualities, the push and pull of responsibility and desire, of girlhood and womanhood and freedom and constraint. Alessandro Michele, that beauty obsessive, took us there too, not overtly, but in the idea that things that are wrong can be beautiful. That desire can’t be packaged in one way.

He told Tim Blanks in an interview ahead of his debut that he is a “wrong person.”

“I grew up as someone who is always off. But I think that you need to be a little bit off to work in this brand, because you need to look at things from another perspective to do exactly what Valentino was in a contemporary way. You need to look at things like a director, as a person who has so much material. Every day, I’m making a movie in my mind. I was just shooting the campaign in an amazing Roman palace and I was thinking, ‘This is what I did at Gucci, but here it’s so easy.””

He told Vogue Runway he started the collection by looking at things he likes—“the very beautiful and light ruffles,” “the doll look that came from the ’60s and ’70s,” and “an ’80s power suit with a kind of sensuality that’s [actually] very démodé now.” 

Demode, déshabillé - these are things not so far apart!

Alessandro Michele’s debut for Valentino, image courtesy of Valentino

Earlier this week I was listening to Esther Perel interview Miranda July on her podcast Where Shall We Begin about July’s new book All Fours. The book has been like an electricity jolt for many women (and men!) and it is a book about desire and feeling wrong.

Perel, as ever, was full of insights and I kept thinking how her thoughts about the erotic also relate to clothes. Like how the erotic wants novelty and mystery and surprise, how we all are torn between security and freedom, and what can happen when we pay attention. Perel specifically mentioned thinking about clothes too when paying attention to how you feel, and what you want.

Don’t you think this could mean wearing things you wouldn’t dare ordinarily? Or paying attention to how a fabric feels on your skin? 

It is, Perel said, finding a taste to live! 

The internet is positively overflowing with opinions on taste right now - good, bad, algorithmic. But I think right now I’m interested in clothes that give you a taste to live. As Junya Watanabe wrote in his show notes, “I feel that abnormal clothing is necessary in our everyday life.”

This doesn’t mean clothes that even look good, or work all the time, but it’s the appetite to try! That’s what I found so compelling on so many runways this season.

Double denim! Worn in the world’s most luxurious sex shop, ha!

With all this in mind, yesterday I wore double denim. This is an example of wrongness! Of something I’d have never tried before. But it worked. Was it erotic? I mean, I’m not going to be the person who decrees that because here’s the thing - nobody really can (anyway, who am I to deny the allure of, say, a Montana cowboy, a chief source of inspiration for the look!).  It’s a beautiful mystery. But it was fascinating to wear something that wasn’t ‘right,’ to subvert ideas of bad taste and to feel kind of like an adventurer, that’s what I will say.

Denim ‘shacket’ from beautiful Australian brand Outland Denim which helps women escape modern slavery (it’s on sale here).

Read All Fours and report back! Buy it here.

Miranda July on Where Should We Begin. Listen to it here.

I am obsessed with this line from Vanessa Friedman’s review of Balenciaga also: 

“After it was all over, Nicole Kidman, whose movie about female desire, “Babygirl,” recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival, appeared backstage to hug Demna. She was wearing a long-sleeve black turtleneck version of the laced-up dress on the runway. “I love the corset,” she whispered in Demna’s ear.”

Not unrelated to this topic, what a treat to have to wait for The Row pics to drop, no? I love the shape of this jacket and these trousers.

Industry has finished, and I cannot shake how depressed the show made me feel. I LOVED it. 

This line was perfect:

“Those classically educated guys hide their thuggishness behind verbosity and tailoring.”

BOOKS

My main note here is that ALAN HOLLINGHURST’S NEW NOVEL IS OUT NEXT WEEK AND I CANNOT WAIT.

My brilliant friend Jess (nobody has better links in their newsletter) saw him in the flesh and I am so envious!

The line of Beauty is one of my favourite books of all time. My ultimate recommendation.

I’m flying solo with the children to Tasmania today to stay with my parents for a week and am optimistically packing four books. Watch this space!

Annie xx